Queens community board wants Adams to make good on precinct pledge
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The Northern Queens community wants a new precinct to supplement the 109th Precinct, which covers all of Northern Queens and Flushing. Screenshot via Google Maps
By Ryan Schwach
A Queens community board is calling on the Adams administration to make good on a pledge to explore bringing a new police precinct to Northern Queens before they leave office.
Queens Community Board 7 chair Chuck Apelian sent a letter to City Hall on Monday calling on outgoing Mayor Eric Adams to fund and site a new NYPD police precinct for Northern Queens, which the board says they were promised as part of their approval of the massive Willets Point development two years ago.
The call for a precinct that will supplement the busy 109th Precinct comes not only as Adams enters his last month in office, but also in the wake of the high-profile violent car meetup incident in Malba last week and the expected approval of two casinos on two sides of the board’s borders.
“We've got a lot of development coming into the area,” Apelian told the Eagle on Tuesday. “We've got two casinos, one directly to the north in the Bronx, right over the bridge, and one directly to the west, and who's going to take care of all the public safety?”
A new precinct to help speed up response times in the 109th, which includes the entirety of Northern Queens and Flushing, has been requested by the board for years.
The 109th Precinct is located in the densely populated Downtown Flushing, but is far from the northern areas of the borough like College Point, where Apelian and local officials have argued a greater police presence is needed.
“We've been saying this for a long, long time,” the board chair said. “It takes an hour to travel from one end to the other. The response time is unbelievable.”
In 2023, when the massive second phase of the Willets Point plan to build 2,500 units of housing, a hotel and soccer stadium came before the board, they hinged their approval on the promise of a precinct.
“We asked for one thing,” Apelian said.
In late November 2023, then-Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks seemingly met that request, saying the city would explore the implementation of a new precinct and said he would “ensure that the relevant agencies conduct an assessment of the needs and resources required to determine whether a new precinct in the 109th Precinct is viable.”
“Although the city is facing unprecedented budget constraints, we are committed to working with NYPD, [the Department of Citywide Administrative Services] and [the Office of Management and Budget] to assess public safety needs and identify resources for an additional patrol precinct in the 109th Precinct,” Banks’ letter said.
The board gave its approval to phase two of Willets Point a few days later.
About a year after that, in November 2024, the mayor announced a new satellite precinct in College Point staffed by 54 new police officers and 12 supervisors.
“This satellite precinct has been something community leaders and civic groups have been advocating for a very long time now, and I’m thrilled to be able to deliver for Whitestone and College Point once again,” local Councilmember Vickie Paladino said at the time. “This is a huge win, and the culmination of a lot of hard work between myself, Mayor Adams, the NYPD, Community Board 7 and local civic groups.”
But Apelian called the satellite merely a “stop gap measure,” and with Adams on his way out, the board is looking to collect on Banks’ promise of a full precinct in return for their approval of Willets Point.
Apelian penned a letter to City Hall on Monday addressed to First Deputy Mayor Randy Mastro calling for the precinct.
“We need your current administration to deliver the promise already made to provide an additional police precinct within the 109th Precinct to provide safety for the 400,000 residents within Community Board 7,” Apelian wrote.
Also on Monday, casino plans from Mets owner Steve Cohen’s, which is within CB7, and Bally’s, which lies just across the Whitestone Bridge from the board, cleared their penultimate level of approval, which Apelian said further adds to the need for the precinct.
Additionally, locals are concerned following a car meetup in Malba that turned violent in November. Local officials criticized the NYPD for a slow response to the incident, which left two locals injured and a car in flames.
“The lawlessness, the recklessness, the response time and the safety of Northeast Queens is in peril,” said Apelian.
Queens Community Board 7 Chair Chuck Apelian wants the Adams administration to fund a new NYPD precinct in the board’s communities before the end of the year. Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach
Paladino told the Queens Chronicle that residents reported calling 911 in the early stages of the car meetup only to be told that it was a matter for 311, and not the cops.
The NYPD defended the response, and said it was a busy night in the large precinct.
“At the time of the incident in question, other units from the 109 were handling multiple priority jobs, including an arrest for an individual who was driving while intoxicated, transporting someone to the hospital, an assault and a vehicle collision with injuries,” DCPI told the Chronicle.
Paladino was unable to provide comment by press time, but City Councilmember Sandra Ung, who represents most of Flushing, said that further public safety measures are needed for the area.
“As these potential casino projects would bring significant increases in traffic, tourism, and overall activity to our neighborhoods, it is essential that public safety infrastructure keeps pace with development,” she said. “I look forward to working closely with the incoming mayoral administration to ensure that the public safety needs of the communities I represent are adequately met, both now and in the years ahead.”
“Any future development must be accompanied by the resources, planning and support necessary to keep our neighborhoods safe and strong,” she added.
A spokesperson for Queens Borough President Donovan Richards also said that the boom in development in the area warrants additional resources for current and future residents there.
"Borough President Richards has been clear that as North Queens continues to grow rapidly, in terms of its housing stock and its overall economic activity, more vital city services are needed,” said the BP’s spokesperson Chris Barca. “That includes additional police and fire resources to ensure the safety of families across the community district, which he continues to discuss with local leaders."
In a statement to the Eagle, City Hall spokesperson Liz Garcia addressed the violent car meetup, but declined to comment on Apelian’s letter and directed inquiries to the NYPD, who did not respond.
“We were disturbed to hear about the recent illegal car meetup in Malba that turned violent, and this kind of behavior is unacceptable,” said Garcia. “As the NYPD has made clear, we will be adding patrol officers to the area to try to prevent these kinds of violent incidents, and DOT will also be adding safety options.”
The timing of the letter also coincides with the end of Adams’ mayoralty, as Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani prepares to take office in less than a month.
"We need the precinct, and I've still got 30 days with this administration,” said Apelain. “I’d love to see him do it before [Mamdani] comes in.”
“I don't know what he's gonna do,” Apelian said of Mamdani. “All I know is we're trying to get it done. The promise came from this administration two years ago, and we're asking for them to deliver. I'm not going to go to the next step. I don't know what Mamdani is going to do or not do, and I don't want to ask right now. The promise came from this mayor. I'm asking for his administration to make good.”
Mamdani’s transition did not respond to a request for comment.
There is some hope that a planned development at the site of the former Flushing Airport could be the future site of the precinct. Cirrus, a developer who was recently awarded the right to build 3,000 residential units at the site, allocated 50,000 square feet for a potential precinct, but funding, staffing and the site’s location need to come from the city.
“I'm not saying that has to be the site,” said Apelian. “I just need the mayor to fund it.”
